Dirt farmer and tax reform advocate

A self-proclaimed dirt farmer, Charles Hodde was an influential player in the development of Washington’s tax code.  He was dedicated to the public process and progressed from a grassroots organizer (working on tax reform and public power in initiatives), to state representative, to gubernatorial candidate, to agency director, and eventually, federal appointee.  A man of many hats, Hodde’s finger prints can be found all over the history of Washington’s tax code.


An examination of tax reform history in Washington without talking about Charles Hodde would be like putting together a puzzle with half the pieces missing.  Hodde was a part of the tax reform effort on nearly every front.  He started as an organizer for the Washington State Grange Association in which he contributed heavily to the filings of People’s Initiative 69 and People’s Initiative 64.  By walking and talking his way through Seattle, Hodde was able to promote the sister reform initiatives well enough to carry a victory throughout the whole area. 
Hodde’s influence on reform initiatives continued, and he went on to become a lobbyist for the Grange Association, which was one of the key backers in the income tax reform effort.  He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1937, and was elected to Speaker of the House in 1948.  This accomplishment earned him a hero’s welcome and parade in his home district.  Hodde speaks of the event:

[T]here’d never been a Speaker from a little cowtown. Well, that isn’t quite true, we had one from down in Garfield County way back in the twenties ... but when I took the bus from Spokane back to Colville, you never saw a more astonished little kid than I was when the bus was met by a band and a convertible. The citizens there loaded me on this convertible with my wife and my daughter, Dorothy was playing in the high school band and she marched along front. John [their son] rode with us, and I got a parade clear through Colville, a hometown hero (Hodde, 1986, p. 132).

Hodde held firmly to the need for reform to Washington’s tax code.  Many of the reasons that led him to champion reform still apply today.  Hodde understood that an adequate tax code must be applied fairly across income brackets, should not be too heavily dependent on any one form of revenue, and that each person should pay his/her share according to his/her means. Hodde built a near 60-year career in public service on these principles.  Contemporary reform advocates would do well to know their roots.